I was going back over parts of your book last week and noted your interest in William H. Jackson. I thought you might like a copy of the attached correspondence with Horace Albright.

I have a great photo of Albright and Cook taken in 1922. I wrote the piece below to introduce the connections between them and the implications that just jumped out at me.

Best,

Rick

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This photograph was taken in 1922, on the 50th anniversary of the creation of Yellowstone National Park. In the photo, a young Horace Albright is shaking hands with an aging Charles Cook. In 1869, Cook, and two companions, David Folsom and William Peterson, conducted an important early exploration of the region that was to become Yellowstone National Park. Their descriptions led directly to the Washburn Expedition the following year. It was, in turn, a member of Washburn's 1870 expedition, Nathanial Langford, who piqued the interest of Ferdinand Hayden in January, 1871, leading to the elaborate Hayden Survey of the Yellowstone in 1871. Shortly after Hayden’s return to Washington with the results of his findings, supported by Jackson’s photographs and Moran’s art, Yellowstone National Park was created in March, 1872.

The letter below was received from Horace Albright in November, 1986 and is a portion of a correspondence that took place during that year. It is remarkable that as late as 1986, we were still able to speak and correspond with the first civilian superintendent of Yellowstone, a man who personally knew Thomas Moran, William H. Jackson, and Charles Cook. This is a powerful reminder of how short our history in this region is--and of what a profound impact we have had on the face of the land in just two lifetimes.